Understanding the Knowledge Base Analytics Dashboard

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base includes an Analytics dashboard that helps you understand how visitors use your documentation.

Depending on the features you have enabled, the dashboard can show information about:

• Article views
• Knowledge base searches
• Search terms with no results
• Helpful Yes and No feedback
• Popular articles
• Recent visitor activity

The dashboard is designed to help you improve the knowledge base rather than simply collect numbers.

Open the Analytics dashboard

To view the reports:

1. Sign in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Open Knowledge Base > Analytics.
3. Choose the report or section you want to review.
4. Adjust any available date or filtering options.
5. Open the related articles when something needs attention.

Only trusted WordPress users with the correct permissions should have access to this area.

What the dashboard is for

The Analytics dashboard can help you answer questions such as:

• Which articles are being read most often?
• What are visitors searching for?
• Which searches return no results?
• Which articles receive negative feedback?
• Which documentation topics need expanding?
• Are important guides being found?
• Are visitors using different wording from your article titles?

The most useful insights normally come from comparing several reports together.

Article Views

Article Views show how many times each published knowledge base article has been opened.

This can help identify:

• Frequently used guides
• Important setup articles
• Common troubleshooting topics
• Articles that should be reviewed regularly
• Content receiving very little attention

For example:

• How to Install SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base: 420 views
• How to Activate Your Licence: 365 views
• How to Change Category Icons: 74 views

A high view count usually means the subject is important to visitors, but it does not automatically mean the article solved their problem.

Why administrator views may not count

Views from users signed in with permission to edit or manage knowledge base articles may be excluded.

This prevents your own testing and editing from affecting the totals.

To test view tracking properly:

1. Open a private browser window.
2. Visit a published article.
3. Return to the Analytics dashboard.
4. Refresh the report.

Caching may delay the result slightly.

Search Analytics

Search Analytics shows the terms visitors enter into the knowledge base search box.

The report can include:

• Search term
• Number of searches
• Number of results returned
• Last searched date

For example:

Search term	Searches	Results
product key	38	3
change logo	21	2
licence error	17	0

This shows not only what people want, but whether the knowledge base is helping them find it.

Grouped search terms

Repeated searches for the same wording can be grouped together.

For example, if product key is searched several times, the dashboard can show one entry with the total number of searches.

This makes it easier to see which terms are genuinely popular.

Small differences in wording may still appear as separate entries.

For example:

• product key
• licence key
• activation key

These may all describe the same visitor need.

Searches with results

A search with results means the knowledge base found one or more matching articles.

This is useful, but it does not guarantee that the result was relevant.

Open the search yourself and check:

• Which articles appear
• Whether the best article is first
• Whether the titles are clear
• Whether the excerpt explains the result
• Whether outdated articles appear

A search returning several weak results may still need improvement.

Searches with no results

No-result searches are some of the most useful entries in the dashboard.

They can reveal:

• Missing documentation
• Different customer wording
• Product features without guides
• Spelling variations
• Common support problems
• Article titles that are too vague

For example, visitors may search for:

serial number

while your documentation only uses:

product key

You could update the relevant article to include both terms naturally.

What to do with no-result searches

When a search repeatedly returns no results:

1. Search for the term yourself.
2. Decide whether an existing article should cover it.
3. Update the article title, excerpt or content if needed.
4. Create a new article when the subject is genuinely missing.
5. Add the term to Popular Searches if it is widely useful.
6. Test the search again.

Do not create a separate article for every unusual one-off search.

Look for repeated patterns.

Helpful Feedback Analytics

Helpful Feedback Analytics shows how visitors responded to the Yes and No question at the end of an article.

The report may include:

• Yes votes
• No votes
• Total responses
• Helpfulness percentage

For example:

Article	Yes	No	Helpful
How to Install the Plugin	28	2	93%
Fix Licence Details Not Recognised	7	9	44%

The second article would be worth reviewing.

Do not rely on percentages alone

A percentage can be misleading when there are very few votes.

For example:

• 1 Yes and 0 No equals 100%
• 1 Yes and 1 No equals 50%

Check the total number of responses before deciding that an article is working well or badly.

A pattern across several votes is more useful than one isolated response.

Compare feedback with views

Article views provide useful context for feedback.

For example:

Article A

• 2,000 views
• 10 No votes

Article B

• 60 views
• 10 No votes

Article B is likely to need more urgent attention because a much larger proportion of readers responded negatively.

Use both reports together.

Compare feedback with search data

Search terms can explain why an article receives negative feedback.

For example:

• Visitors search for licence not recognised
• They open the activation article
• The article receives several No votes

This may mean the activation article does not explain that error clearly enough.

You could:

• Add a dedicated troubleshooting section
• Move the answer higher in the article
• Create a separate error guide
• Link the two articles together
• Add the search wording to the article

Popular Articles

Popular Articles are based mainly on recorded article view totals.

The Analytics dashboard helps you see which guides are likely to appear in that section.

Popular articles often include:

• Installation guides
• Licence activation
• Product key help
• Frequently used settings
• Common errors

These articles should be reviewed regularly because more visitors depend on them.

Low-view articles

An article with few views is not automatically unnecessary.

It may cover:

• A rare problem
• An advanced feature
• A newly added setting
• A subject only relevant to some customers
• A page that is difficult to discover

Before removing it, check whether:

• The article title is clear
• It is assigned to the correct category
• Search can find it
• Other guides link to it
• It is marked as unlisted
• The subject is still current

Low traffic may indicate poor visibility rather than unhelpful content.

Recently updated articles

The dashboard and public knowledge base may also use article modified dates.

Recently updated guides can be useful when you want to confirm that important documentation is being maintained.

Review whether recent updates were meaningful.

Avoid changing an article date without actually reviewing the content.

Date ranges and filters

Some Analytics reports may allow you to filter or review information by date.

Use date ranges when you want to compare:

• Activity before and after a plugin update
• Search behaviour after publishing new articles
• Feedback before and after rewriting a guide
• Recent trends against older usage
• A short product launch period

If a report shows lifetime totals only, make a note of the current figures before making a large documentation change.

Look for trends rather than single events

One search or one negative vote rarely tells the whole story.

Look for repeated behaviour such as:

• The same no-result search appearing often
• A steady increase in one article’s views
• Several related articles receiving negative feedback
• Many searches using wording not found in your documentation
• A popular feature with very little documentation

Patterns are more useful than isolated entries.

Use analytics to plan new articles

The dashboard can help you decide what to write next.

Good article ideas often come from:

• Repeated no-result searches
• Common support questions
• Popular articles covering broad subjects
• Negative feedback on an article missing detail
• Features visitors search for using several different phrases

For example, repeated searches for:

• change article url
• custom knowledge base slug
• remove category base

may show that URL settings need clearer documentation.

Use analytics to improve existing articles

Not every problem needs a new article.

Sometimes the existing guide needs:

• A clearer title
• A better excerpt
• More direct wording
• A troubleshooting section
• Updated screenshots
• Better headings
• A table of contents
• Internal links
• A clearer first paragraph

Check the current article before creating another one.

Prioritise important articles

A simple way to prioritise documentation work is:

1. High views and poor feedback
2. Popular searches with no results
3. High views and outdated content
4. Repeated support questions
5. Low-view articles that should be important
6. Less common feature requests

This keeps your time focused on changes likely to help the most visitors.

High views and good feedback

An article with strong traffic and mostly positive feedback is doing its job well.

You should still review it occasionally for:

• Outdated screenshots
• Changed setting names
• Broken links
• New plugin features
• Old version references

Do not rewrite a successful article simply because it has been published for a long time.

High views and poor feedback

This is one of the clearest signs that an article needs attention.

Check whether:

• Visitors are landing on the wrong guide
• The title promises more than the article provides
• The answer is buried too far down
• The instructions are outdated
• An error message is missing
• The article is too broad
• The steps assume too much knowledge

Improve the guide and watch whether the feedback changes over time.

Low views and good feedback

This may be a useful article that is difficult to find.

Try improving:

• Article title
• Excerpt
• Category placement
• Search wording
• Internal links
• Popular search links
• Recommended or related article connections

Keep the article if the subject remains relevant.

Low views and poor feedback

Review whether the article still needs to exist.

It may be:

• Outdated
• Too narrow
• Duplicated elsewhere
• Poorly titled
• Covering a feature that changed
• Better combined with another guide

Do not delete it immediately if external links may still point to it.

Update, redirect or replace it carefully.

Analytics after publishing a new article

A new article will naturally begin with little or no data.

Give it time to collect:

• Search visits
• Article views
• Helpful feedback
• Internal link traffic

Make sure it can be discovered through:

• Its category
• Knowledge base search
• Related Articles
• Recommended Articles
• Automatic article links
• Popular Searches where appropriate

Do not judge a new article after only one day.

Analytics after rewriting an article

After improving an article, note the date of the change.

Then review:

• New Yes and No responses
• Search terms leading to it
• Article view changes
• Support questions about the same subject
• Whether no-result searches decrease

Old feedback totals may still include responses from before the rewrite.

Consider that when judging the current version.

Clear or reset analytics carefully

Some plugin versions may include options to clear or reset analytics information.

Before doing this:

• Export or note important totals if needed
• Make sure you no longer need historical comparisons
• Check that a backup exists
• Confirm which report will be cleared
• Avoid clearing live data simply for testing

Deleted analytics may not be recoverable without restoring a database backup.

Testing analytics

When testing the reports, use a private browser window.

You can:

1. Open a public article.
2. Run a knowledge base search.
3. Submit a Yes or No response.
4. Return to the WordPress dashboard.
5. Refresh Analytics.
6. Check whether the activity appears.

Avoid creating too many test entries because they can distort real reports.

Analytics are not updating

If new activity does not appear, check that:

• The relevant analytics feature is enabled
• The licence is active
• You tested while signed out
• The article is published
• The search contained at least two characters
• JavaScript is working
• Page caching is not serving stale information
• The dashboard has been refreshed

Clear the website and server cache, then test again.

Search Analytics is empty

Search Analytics will remain empty until visitors use the SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base search box.

Check that:

• Search Analytics is enabled
• The main or compact search box is visible
• Search terms meet the minimum length
• The licence is active
• Search requests are completing successfully

Run one test search while signed out.

Article Views are not increasing

Check that:

• Article view tracking is enabled
• You are viewing a published article
• The article is not unlisted
• You are signed out of WordPress
• The licence is active
• The page cache has been cleared

Your own signed-in visits may be deliberately excluded.

Feedback totals are not changing

Check that:

• Helpful Article Feedback is enabled
• The buttons respond publicly
• JavaScript is not blocked
• The vote was submitted while signed out
• The correct article is being reviewed
• The Analytics page has been refreshed

Try another browser if the button appears unresponsive.

The numbers look unusually high

Unexpected totals may be caused by:

• Automated traffic
• Repeated page refreshes
• Public links being widely shared
• Search engine crawlers
• Another website linking to an article
• Testing from several devices
• Old data accumulated over time

Compare the activity with your wider website logs if you need more context.

The knowledge base dashboard is intended as a practical guide rather than a full visitor tracking platform.

The numbers look unusually low

Low totals may be caused by:

• Analytics being enabled recently
• Heavy page caching
• Articles being difficult to discover
• Signed-in administrator views being excluded
• Search Analytics being disabled
• A new or low-traffic website
• Articles being marked as unlisted

Check the public knowledge base while signed out.

Analytics and website caching

Caching can delay:

• Updated article view totals
• New search entries
• Feedback changes
• Popular Article ordering
• Dashboard displays

Clear the relevant caches while testing.

On a live website, a small delay is normally acceptable as long as the data continues updating.

Analytics and privacy

The dashboard uses grouped information to help improve documentation.

Review your privacy settings and policy if you enable:

• Article view tracking
• Search Analytics
• Helpful Article Feedback
• Privacy gate session storage

Visitors should be discouraged from entering private information into the search box.

Only trusted users should have access to the WordPress Analytics area.

A practical monthly review

A simple monthly knowledge base review could include:

1. Check the ten most viewed articles.
2. Review articles with the most No votes.
3. Check repeated searches with no results.
4. Look for new visitor wording.
5. Update one or two important guides.
6. Create a new article where a clear gap exists.
7. Test search after making changes.
8. Review whether Popular Searches should be updated.

Regular small improvements are usually more manageable than a large rewrite once a year.

Analytics dashboard checklist

Before finishing, check that:

• Article view tracking is working
• Search terms are being recorded
• No-result searches are reviewed
• Helpful feedback is compared with views
• New articles have time to collect data
• High-traffic guides are kept current
• Low traffic is investigated before removing content
• Trends are prioritised over single events
• Test activity is kept to a minimum
• Privacy settings match the analytics being used
• Analytics access is limited to trusted users
• Useful findings are turned into documentation improvements

The Analytics dashboard can now help you decide which articles to update, what visitors are searching for and where the knowledge base needs more information.